Daring or dairy in Senate primary

The iron worker is U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch of South Boston, and the milkman is none other than U.S. Rep. Eddie Markey of Malden. Both of whom want to be the next U.S. senator from Massachusetts.

These are the jobs the two political leaders held in their youth, before they became lawyers and politicians.

While Lynch, 57, following in his father's footsteps, worked the high iron on various construction projects, Markey, 66, was taking over his father's Hood Co. milk route as he earned money for college.

And while delivering milk, now a lost profession, was nowhere as dangerous as working the iron 20 or so stories high up on a building, door-to-door milk delivery could also be perilous, considering you had to ward off bad dogs without spilling the milk.

This is not to disparage the milkmen of yesteryear. I too worked for a milk company in my wayward youth. Yet, fear of falling off a 20-story building is a bit different from worrying about falling out of a milk truck.

Here is what Lynch said about his iron-worker job in a profile I did on him for CommonWealth magazine in 1999, when he was a state senator: "I always wanted to be an iron worker. I loved it. I spent 20 years on the high iron and I loved it. Basically it was like a sport. I was too young to feel the danger. I never developed a fear of heights. I never had a fear of the iron."

If you never feared the iron, there is not much else out there to fear, except of course, fear itself, so to speak.

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The milkman and the iron worker will square off in the April 30 primary seeking the Democratic nomination for the right to succeed former Sen. John F. Kerry, the new secretary of state. The special election, against whomever the Republicans put up, will be held June 30.

For the Democrats it will be a classic fight, pitting the veteran liberal Markey, the dean of the Massachusetts congressional delegation, against Lynch, the feisty social conservative.

While Markey, the favorite, has a campaign war chest of $3 million and the support of Kerry, Vicki Kennedy, the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee as well as the Democratic Party establishment, Lynch, the underdog, has the backing of unions (he's a former president of Iron Workers Local 7), moderates, conservatives, party regulars and anyone else out there who is not a knee-jerk liberal.

Lynch may also have the quiet support of Boston Mayor Tom Menino, which will be very important in a primary if the mayor unleashes his political campaign machine, like he did for U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

Warren, by the way, repaid Menino's generosity by not attending Menino's important State of the City speech at Faneuil Hall two weeks ago. The annual speech was made doubly important as it came following Menino's long hospitalization and recuperation, and was partly in response to curiosity over whether Menino, at age 70, could still answer the bell.

He showed that he could, and that he still has another mayoral campaign in him. Anybody who was anybody in the political world attended, except Warren. The mayor, who never forgets anything, made note of her absence.

While Menino has not endorsed either Lynch or Markey, he is tilting toward Lynch, a fellow Bostonian who understands the problems of the city. It is also noted that Menino's longtime friend and campaign adviser Ed Jesser is working for Lynch.

Lynch also has strong support on Beacon Hill among members of the House and Senate, having served in both branches before running for Congress.

Menino, more than anyone else, could easily be a kingmaker in this fight. Because it is a special Democratic primary, the vote will be light. So if Menino decides to support a candidate, namely Lynch, he could put him over the top by turning out a strong Boston vote.

If Menino could help put Warren over the top, he certainly could do the same for Lynch. With Republican Scott Brown out of the race, the Democratic primary is the race and the June 30 final could be just a formality.

This Markey/Lynch race is good for the Democratic Party and the general voting public because it gives people a choice, and that choice is between a career liberal like Markey and a moderate/conservative like Lynch.

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